The calm between the storms

I'm taking a break! Well, in a way I'm just working from a different location -- a different continent for three weeks -- but the plan is to wind down and recharge the batteries after a full-on couple of years.

I'm in Canada staying with friends for Christmas, and trying to catch up on some paperwork before what should be a huge 2010.

This year has already been massive, including landing a third container from Europe for Eurocentric Wine Imports in early December. It was a lot more trouble than it should have been, thanks to crazy shipping companies. I used Ziegler for my pickups this time, as they offered a quick, careful and inexpensive service. They also wanted to pack the container and ship the goods, so I let them to see how they went.

Well, they didn't fill the container for a start. They left out 150 cases! Granted I may have been ambitious, forgetting how much bigger Champagne and Burgundy bottles are than riesling bottles, but it seemed crazy that they left the back row stacked only halfway up, and throughout the container it looked like they could have gone one row higher.

At first I thought I would be paying storage for these 150 cases until I could get another full container organised out of Europe. But then I discovered a new service, where you can share space in a refrigerated container. It's an extra expense, but better than driving customers mad waiting for overdue stock. And I wanted to get it off Ziegler as soon as possible, thinking this all might have been a scheme to get more money out of me.

Then, the day before the container arrived, the customs clearance agents realised they didn't have the necessary paperwork. Why they didn't think about this earlier, they still won't say. The shippers said they'd send it by DHL, a useless courier company which managed to turn a three-day promise into a six-day non-delivery before I went and snatched the envelope off them. We dodged cancellation fees at the port and fortunately Ziegler picked up the bill for the courier and a day of storage, and finally the container was delivered on December 8.

Anyway, it was still nice and cold when we cracked it, and replenished stocks of René Geoffroy and Henri Billiot champagne, plus included David Léclapart champagne (biodynamic, zero dosage), Jean-Claude Bessin chablis, Jean-Marc Burgaud beaujolais, and 2007 Burgundy from Dupont-Tisserandot, Humbert Freres, Aurélien Verdet, Benoit Ente and Jean-Philippe Fichet.

Some of these have already been snapped up by Rockpool Bar & Grill, Bentley Bar & Restaurant, Aria and Ultimo Wine Centre in Sydney; the Royal Mail Hotel in Victoria; and the Wine Emporium and Enoteca 1889 in Brisbane.

I've hardly had a chance to show the wines yet and already I want to uplift another container in Europe -- this week! I'm hoping to get the go-ahead today for collections in Germany to bring out the 2008 rieslings from Willi Schaefer, Schloss Lieser, Reinhold Haart, Andreas Schmitges, Knebel, Schafer-Frohlich, Emrich-Schonleber and Rebholz, plus the first shipment from Van Volxem in the Saar, including 07s and 08s. There will also be some left-field wines -- sparkling riesling and pinot-chardonnay from Rebholz, as well as weissburgunder, grauburgunder, spatburgunder, dornfelder and gewurztraminer from various producers.

There will also be some very limited mixed dozens from Willi Schaefer -- just six of them, which will contain one bottle of a special 07 auction auslese, a very rare 08 auslese, the last of some other special 07s and the best of the 08s.

There will be other limited items, including back vintages from some of the top producers. The best way to get a heads-up on these is to subscribe to the Eurocentric newsletter at www.eurocentricwine.com.au

Hopefully the German container will land in Sydney by February 1 because it will contain a large parcel of the off-dry riesling Haart to Heart as a potential Valentine's Day gift. Maybe I should team up with a gift basket company on that one!

Next up, as soon as I can afford it, will be another container primarily out of France, but also including the first shipment from Carl von Schubert's Maximin Grunhaus and a mixed 1993/2008 shipment from Zilliken. The French portion will include champagne from Vouette et Sorbée, Chartogne-Taillet and Georges Laval for the first time; beaujolais from organic producer Roland Pignard; clean, lush and inexpensive Rhones from Domaine des Espiers; and gorgeous Burgundies from Drouhin-Laroze, David Clark and hopefully I can squeeze in a couple of others.

That might have to do us for a while! The warehouse is bulging, so I better concentrate on sales! Well, by the time I get back on January 13 I will have six weeks to sell, plus host Unison (NZ) boss Phillip Horn in Sydney and Melbourne, and hopefully do some German wine dinners with one or two producers on a flying visit.

Then it will be back off to Europe to sample the 2008s from France and the 2009s from Germany, plus attend the Grands Jours de Bourgogne trade show in Burgundy and finalise agreements to import one or two more boutique producers from the heart of the Cote de Nuits.

I better recover quickly because it seems like the pace isn't going to let up for a while yet!

However, I'm encouraged by surging sales, new restaurant listings and some others to be added soon, plus the blanket coverage achieved in WA by my agents Terra Wines. The Eurocentric website store is now fitted out to accept credit cards, and debtor finance will make it easier to deal with the cashflow challenges of introducing so many new producers to the market in quick succession.

Starting our third year, I'm more excited than ever and looking forward to bringing more great wine to those who appreciate quality at a fair price. There's no reason not to spoil yourself and try a few of these new gems.